


Steve's Declassified Babysitter's Survival Guide

by StoryRodeo_333



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, I know nothing about s3, Other, Swearing, takes place after s2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 16:48:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoryRodeo_333/pseuds/StoryRodeo_333
Summary: The kids find Steve's diary and discover some good ideas within Steve's insomnia-addled 3 am scribblings. Research, adventure, and chaos ensues. They meet Number Three, a tour guide, and some unsavory characters along the way as they hunt for proof of other alternate universes.





	Steve's Declassified Babysitter's Survival Guide

 

 

                At the sound of the door banging against the wall, Steve startled awake, immediately sitting up in bed. Once he saw that his room was filling up with voices and children, he laid back down, bundling back up in the covers.

                “Steve! Get up!” Dustin yelled. “It’s one o’clock dude!”

                “Guys, come on, please leave me alone,” Steve mumbled. He felt the mattress bounce as at least three kids climbed onto it, flopping across him as he futilely tried to go back to sleep.

                “You were late picking us up at the arcade so we came over to make sure you were okay,” Will said from next to the bed, since he politely did not flop over him like the others.

                “Oh shit,” Steve mumbled. “Sorry guys, I forgot.”

                “Yeah no shit,” Max said from her position on the bed. Steve could hear the kids talking and rifling through his desk, but he didn’t try to stop them because he wouldn’t be able to move anyway with at least three bodies on top of him.

                “What is this?” he heard Eleven say.

                “Whoa! Steve, you keep a diary?” he heard Dustin shout. Steve peaked half an eye out of his blanket to see Dustin snatch the little red book out of El’s hands.

                “Hey, put that back you little bastard,” Steve said with a weak conviction in his voice. Max leapt off the bed and almost tackled Dustin to get the book. Chaos ensued. Voices shouted over each other and things were knocked over as all six children tried to get ahold of the book. Steve was too tired to do anything about it. He knew his fate was sealed.

                In the end, Max got the book and flipped to a random page.

                “’Dear Diary, today Nancy officially broke up with me after her and Johnathan have been dating for at least a month now…’ Ugh, boring,” Max said. She flipped to the most recent page and kept reading. “Holy shit your handwriting is terrible here. ‘Dear Diary…Blah blah blah, if the upside down exists, who’s to say other dimensions don’t exist as well?’”

                The room went silent as all five kids listened intently as Max read from Steve’s diary.

                “’Obviously, there’s no way anyone is going back into the upside down, not only because the gate is closed but also because it’s too dangerous, but I think we should try to see if there’s other dimensions out there and make sure they aren’t a danger to us’… What is this?”

                “It’s nothing,” Steve said, finally sitting up. “It’s stupid. I wrote it last night at like, three AM. Now give me back the book-“

                “It’s not stupid!” Dustin shouted. “This is awesome!”

                “Yeah, how have none of us thought of this before?” Mike asked. “We should look into this.”

                “I mean it’s kind of stupid…” Max said, but no one listened.

                “Steve, drive us to the library,” said Mike. “We need to start doing some research.”

                “Are you guys serious?” Steve asked. “It’s just some stupid insomnia fueled rambling. It doesn’t even make any sense. Also, I was going to drive you guys to McDonalds. None of you have eaten yet, have you?”

                “Are you kidding? You’re really onto something here!” Lucas said. Once again, chaos ensued as everyone started talking over each other about different theories.

                “Steve, get ready, we’re leaving in five,” Mike said as he tore out the page and tossed the book back onto the desk. Everyone followed him out of the room. Steve sat there for a moment, wondering when he began taking orders from middle schoolers. But alas, Steve still got out of bed and began dressing, running a hand through his hair in an attempt at making it not stick straight up. It was good enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Even though the kids argued, Steve took them to McDonald’s before the library.

                “You need to eat shitheads,” said Steve as he pulled into the lot. “Besides, since when do you guys not want me to spend money on you?”

                After a quick lunch, they went to the library. They ended up finding a stack of books about astrophysics, quantum physics, multiple universe theory, wormholes and blackholes, metaphysics, and a bunch of other stuff Steve didn’t recognize. He had to flirt with the librarian in order to check out all seventeen books at once. After that, they all went back to Steve’s house and sat around the living room. Steve wasn’t even going to try to understand some of the things those kids were studying, so for the rest of the day, he sat around playing poker with Max. He knew he was pretty much just along for the ride at this point.

                It was Saturday evening and Steve was at home watching a bunch of middle schoolers study quantum mechanics. He wondered how his life became like this. He should be out partying or something. Although, Steve didn’t really have any friends left to party with.

                At some point during the evening, Steve made tortelli di zucca for dinner and then they all watched a movie. By the time the movie was over, all seven of them were asleep in the living room.

                The next morning, while Steve made eggs Benedict, Dustin and Mike explained what they found last night. They explained how multiple universe theory worked and how the parallel planes theory is the most likely one, according to what they know about the upside down. Mike explained that this was how it worked in the DnD universe. The kids also concluded that a strong magnetic force is potentially not the only way to find and open portals to other dimensions.

                “Someone with psychic powers can open them as well,” Mike explained.

                “Like me,” said Eleven, a small smirk on her face.

                “Right. But you said you didn’t know what you were opening and it was really hard for you to do that,” Mike said. El nodded.

                “You guys aren’t seriously trying to open more portals are you?” Steve asked, passing out plates of breakfast. “Didn’t we learn our lesson?”

                “Yeah, but this time, we’re going to try and see into those dimensions first to see if they’re dangerous before we open anything,” Dustin said.

                “And how will you do that?” Max asked, breaking the yolk on her eggs benedict and letting it spill over. The boys looked down at their plates and didn’t say anything. El wolfed down her food in silence.

                “I can try,” El said. “But it might not work.”

                “Are you kidding me?” Steve asked as he took a seat with his own plate next to Max. “You guys really want to do this?”

                Everyone nodded their heads.

                “Will, how do you feel about this?” Steve asked, hoping Will would be a fellow voice of reason. Instead, Will shrugged and said, “I’m down.” Steve rolled his eyes.

                After breakfast, Steve drove everyone home, telling them not to call him if they found some new crazy adventure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                On Tuesday, Steve was driving all six kids across the state after school. They explained to him that they did some more research and they found another kid who escaped from the labs. Number three. Eleven had found her by telepathically communicating with her. Steve had no clue what any of that meant. He also knew that they shouldn’t be doing this. He was in no way prepared to keep track of six children in an unknown city.

                Johnathan had tried to go with them but Will convinced him to stay home and not to worry. Steve wasn’t sure what El told Hopper to let her go, but she didn’t seem too worried about it.

                In fact, none of them were worried about anything. They were having the time of their lives. They sang along to the radio, argued, played games, and tried to get Steve to pull over at every cool thing they saw on the side of the road. Steve had no idea how they weren’t getting uncomfortable in the back seat. There were five of them back there, Dustin sitting shotgun.

                Once the gang got to about the top of the state and entered an ugly, urban city, El leaned forward in her seat to place her head between Dustin and Steve.

                “Make a right up here,” she said.

                “Onto the big road?” Steve asked.

                “Yes….Now keep going,” El instructed. They drove for about five minutes before El spoke again. “Now make a turn around and pull into that business over there.”

                There were no roads like this in Hawkins, so Steve’s turn around was atrocious and everyone on the road honked at him.

                “You mean this factory here?” Steve asked, feeling unsure about this. “The plastic factory?”

                “Yes. Pull in,” El said. “Now drive through this parking lot and go to the back of the building.”

                “Oh god,” Steve mumbled. This was starting to look so shady. As he drove around to the back of the factory, he saw that there was another factory and an ugly strip mall. Steve wondered how anyone thought it would be a good idea to put a strip mall here, out of sight from any road at all.

                “Pull up to the dance studio at this building here,” El said. She wiped her nose, from which a small line of blood dripped. Steve pulled into a parking space and El climbed over everyone in the back seat and got out. “I want to talk to her first. Come in when I give you the signal.”

                The kids all nodded and agreed to her plan. Once she got inside, the kids all started talking excitedly. Steve was totally lost so he just laid his head back and tried to take a nap. It wasn’t going to happen, but he wanted to try.

                “Hey shitheads, shut up I’m trying to nap here,” he said. No one listened to him.

                “What do you think she’ll be like?” Max asked.

                “I don’t know,” Lucas said. “I think she’ll be really nice.”

                “El said she’s kind of a bitch,” said Mike.

                “She did not say that,” Max said, disbelieving.

                “Yeah she did,” Mike said, laughing. They saw Eleven stick her head out the door of the studio and wave them in. Everyone got out of the car and went inside. Steve still didn’t really know what was going on but he followed the kids inside anyway because there were psychic kids involved and this could turn dangerous. The inside of the studio was loud and there were a ton of little girls running around screaming. Steve spotted his own kids huddled in the back around El, who was talking to another girl. The girl was Asian, long black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her leotard said “Dance” on the front, written in rhinestones. She wore pink wrist bands and matching pink leg warmers and she looked to be about 13 years old. She was stretching, bringing her leg up next to her head, or bringing it behind her so her toe touched the back of her head.

                “I just think you should come with us and just check it out,” Mike said. “Just to be safe.”

                “And out of curiosity’s sake,” said Dustin.

                “I mean I guess,” the girl shrugged. She lifted her leg and brought her foot up above her head, her toe pointed perfectly in a perfect standing split. Steve figured at this point she was just showing off. She didn’t need to stretch that much.

                The gang all cheered and tried explaining their mission to the girl.

                “Hey, listen I don’t care why you want to do this, I’ll just call my mom and tell her I’m staying at Amber’s house for a while,” the girl said. “She won’t care.”

                “Sweet. Oh, um, Steve, this is Rachel,” Mike said. “Rachel, this is our mom, Steve. He’s gonna help us.”

                “Wait, I thought we were going back home after this,” said Steve, ignoring the nickname. Rachel ran off to the phone on the wall and presumably called her mom. “What are you guys planning on doing?”

                “Well, Rachel said that there’s a portal that could be opened about five hours away,” Dustin explained. “It’s in a swamp, so we’ll have to travel by boat partway.”

                “No, no we are not doing this,” Steve said. “You shitheads have put me through enough today. I said I didn’t want to be a part of any of your crazy adventures, and I meant it. I’m taking you home.”

                “Steve,” Mike said authoritatively. “We’re going with or without you. You can either go home and let us go on this adventure on our own, or you can go with us and make sure we’re safe.”

                “I can’t believe this,” Steve said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You manipulative little bastards. What about school tomorrow? Are you gonna skip?”

                “Yeah, if we have to,” Lucas said. No one looked concerned at all. And that was how Steve found himself back on the road with seven instead of six children. This time, they put Dustin and Max in the front seat and the rest piled in the back. Their seating arrangement was probably highly illegal. Rachel turned out to be pretty awesome, but also kind of a bitch, like El said.

                “So what’s the name of your gang?” Rachel asked.

                “The Death Bringers,” Max said.

                “We’re not a gang,” said Lucas.

                “Why don’t we have a name for our group though?” Will asked. “I feel like we should.”

                “The. Death. Bringers.” Max said.

                “Yeah, I think the Death Bringers really captures the spirit of your gang,” Steve said.

                “You mean _our_ gang,” Dustin said. “You’re a part of this now.”

                “Thanks kid,” Steve said. “I’m proud to be a Death Bringer. So Rachel, how did you and Eleven meet?”

                “She found me with her mind,” said Rachel.

                “We found some information on her at the library and El found her with her powers,” Mike filled in.

                “Okay and you’re…what…number three, right?” Steve asked. “And what does that mean again?”

                “I’m number eleven,” El said. “My sister is number eight. Rachel is number three.”

                “And we don’t know how many experiments there are involved in this. There could be other kids out there who are still in the labs or who have escaped,” Mike said. “Rachel, when did you escape?”

                “When I was seven,” she said. “I found my birth mother and she took me in. I had no idea there were others like me until Eleven found me.”

                “What do you do?” El asked. Steve didn’t really know what she meant, but Rachel seemed to know.

                “I can sense portals and open them really easily,” she said. “I can see into them too and pull things out of them.”

                With that, she closed her eyes and held out her hand. The car went silent. A drop of blood slowly fell from her nose as her brow furrowed in concentration. Then she reached out and the space around her hand rippled like it was dipping into water. Her hand disappeared and then when she pulled it back out, she was holding a strange flower. The car erupted in cheers and questions. Rachel looked happy for the opportunity to show off.

                “Hold on, if you can just open portals whenever you want, why are we going to a swamp to find a portal?” Steve asked.

                “Because I can’t open them for everyone. There needs to be a weak spot or a tear in order for me to get everyone through,” Rachel said like it was obvious. “There’s a tear out in the swamps. It’s on this little island. We’ll need tour guides to get there. Steve, you need to turn left up ahead and go to that creepy building over there.”

                “I’m getting real tired of all these creepy buildings,” Steve mumbled.

                “Are you insinuating that my dance studio was creepy?” Rachel asked.

                “Yes, yes I am,” Steve said. “What kind of dance studio is hidden behind a bunch of gross factories?”

                “It’s just a normal dance studio,” Rachel deadpanned. “Maybe you should calm the fuck down.”

                “Whoa, language you little shit,” Steve snapped. “How much farther until I get to the creepy building?”

                “Right here, right here!” Rachel shouted, pointing up ahead. Steve saw it. It was indeed a creepy building. It was a small hut sitting right between a diner and a strip mall, several tour busses parked along the side. There was a flashing Open sign in the window. Steve parked the car and the gang all piled out. On their way in, Steve noticed a sign on the door that read “Do not step on the rug. Hole underneath.”

                “Sonuvabitch!” Dustin shouted as his foot fell into the rug. The inside of the building was just as ugly as the outside. There was just a small desk over against the wall, and a door beside it. The door opened and out stepped a cheery looking young woman. She wore khaki shorts with a matching vest, adorned with an abundance of pockets, kind of like a safari outfit. Her glasses were huge and she had wavy, shoulder length hair. She looked to be about the same age as Steve, maybe a little older.

                “Hi! My name is Cheryl! How can I help you all today?” the woman asked.

                “Hello Cheryl,” Rachel stepped forward. “We need to take a tour of the swamps.”

                “Oh, wonderful!” Cheryl exclaimed. “There is so much to learn about the swamps, such a rich history! Is this a school trip?”

                Cheryl looked at Steve expectantly.

                “No we’re actually-“ Steve nudged Dustin before he could continue.

                “Yes. It’s a school trip,” Steve said.

                “Wonderful! Please, sir, right this way,” Cheryl led Steve over to the desk in the back of the room. Steve realized no one had ever called him “sir” before. It felt really weird. Cheryl bent over the desk and rifled through some papers as she continued to talk. “I’m just so glad your tour group is choosing the swamps. You know, it’s my favorite tour spot, there’s just so much to see, but not many people choose it as their destination. The mountain drive is popular, and so are the falls and the caves, but the swamps are not a hot spot. But you guys are going to change that today! You’ll love it!”

                She stood up and handed Steve a pamphlet and a paper with the price of the tour on it.

                “Jesus Christ, do you think I’m made of money?” Steve turned to the kids.

                “Well I mean, you’re probably the richest guy in Hawkins,” said Dustin.

                “Shut up,” Steve mumbled as he signed the paper and pulled out his wallet. A few minutes later and the gang was boarding a tour bus. The driver of the bus would be Dave, Cheryl’s partner tour guide who was equally cheerful.

                For the umpteenth time that day, Steve took a moment to try and sort through everything. So far, Steve has been cajoled into driving illegally seated pre-teens across the state, picking up a psychic girl from a creepy dance studio, and going on a weird tour with overly cheerful tour guides. This was not how Steve planned his day. At least the tour guides let him bring his bat onto the bus. In fact, they didn’t even seem to notice it sticking out of his backpack. Also, at least traveling by bus was a lot less illegal.

                “Alright gang! Let’s get going! There’s about four hours of driving to do before we get to the swamp,” Dave explained. “Our first stop will be at about the three hour mark, where we’ll stop to get gas. And then after another hour, we’ll be at the docks, where we’ll take a boat for the rest of the tour.”

                “We’ll call this tour group the Swamp Gang,” Cheryl said, almost giddy.

                “No, we’re the Death Bringers,” Max said.

                “Yeah the Death Bringers is the name of our gang,” Will said from the front seat. Cheryl looked at him. For a moment, Steve thought she was going to freak out at that but then she said, “I think the Death Bringers is a great name!”

                Dave started the bus and they got on the road.

                “Let’s all learn each other’s names,” Cheryl suggested. “You all know me, Cheryl, and my partner, Dave. Let’s start with you. What’s your name?”

                Everyone introduced themselves and then Cheryl initiated a “Goooooo Death Bringers!” with everyone’s hands in the middle. As the bus got on the road, everyone began conversing with each other.

                “Should we change it to Death Ringers?” Steve asked, thinking about how clunky Death Bringers felt in his mouth. “Because Death Bringers has too many consonants. Death Ringers has a better _ring_ to it.”

                Max groaned and rolled her eyes.

                “That’s true, but we’ve grown attached to the name Death Bringers,” said Will.

                “Also, Death Ringers doesn’t make any sense,” said Mike.

                “Also it’s stupid,” said Rachel.

                “Assholes,” said Steve.

                “ _You’re_ stupid,” Max glared at Rachel. Sensing a fight on the near horizon, Steve got up and sat next to Max, trapping her in the seat just as she was about to stand up.

                The rest of the ride went by relatively uneventfully. Steve never got his nap but the kids mostly kept to themselves for the hours of driving. The ugly urban landscape eventually turned to thick, wet forest. Finally, they got to the gas station. It was big. In fact, it was actually a big convenience store with a gas station in front. The bus pulled in and everyone piled out and ran to the store. Dave and Cheryl stayed behind to fill up the bus. As soon as they entered the store, they realized it was not just a convenience store. Right in the front of the store was a long wooden desk with a gas station attendant behind it. Around the desk and against the wall were four or five bookshelves filled with books. The gas station attendant behind the wooden counter was handing a stack of books to a tall guy with a red hat and no teeth.

                “Remember, those are due in eighteen days,” the man behind the counter said in a heavy southern accent, even though they weren’t in the south. Steve looked around and noticed that everyone in the store looked scraggly and there was a running theme of overalls, baseball caps, and southern accents. They were in hillbilly territory. Steve scolded himself for not hearing the banjos sooner.

                Past the small library, the store extended into a convenience store. There were shelves lined up with all kinds of snacks and other things. As guessed, the kids ran to the shelves of books and began browsing them. Steve wandered through the shelves until he got to the back wall. He followed the back wall until the shelves opened up into a bigger room. This room had what looked like a huge water basin that was tiled with mosaic style tiles. A pillar rose from the center of the basin and had faucets around it. Higher up on the pillar were shower faucets. There were drains at the bottom of the basin. It looked like a huge, really fancy bathtub.

                “That’s the spa,” a voice said behind Steve, startling him. Steve turned around and saw another gas station attendant. This one wore a blue hat and beige overalls with beige work boots. A lot of his teeth were missing. He smelled like oil.

                “The spa?” Steve raised his eyebrows.

                “Yup. Y’all are welcome to have a dip. No charge,” the man said. Then he walked off. Steve shuddered.

                “Steve!” Steve turned around to find Cheryl jogging up to him. “It looks like there’s some rental boats out back here, so we might just go to the swamps from here.”

                Steve followed her back along the back wall and then down a short hallway to their right. Down this hallway, there were chairs lined up along the right wall and there was a door on the left wall. As they opened the door, the first thing that hit Steve was the smell. It smelled like rotten eggs and death and Steve almost gagged. A gravel decline led down to a dock where there were two motor boats tied up. The boats were floating in the green water, thick with floating moss and algae. After a moment, Steve realized it was a river without a current, and the river disappeared around a bend to the right. Growing around the river was a thick, jungle-like foliage with vines dipping into the water and a canopy so thick that it was blocking out most of the sunlight.

                Cheryl stepped out onto the gravel, put her hands on her hips, and took in a deep breath. Then she let it out in a big satisfied sigh.  

                “You smell that Steve?” she said. “That’s the smell of adventure.”

                “Adventure smells like rot,” Steve said.

                “That’s because the water here is almost stagnant,” Cheryl said. “Anaerobic bacteria grows here and they produce-“

                “Hydrogen sulfide and methane,” Dustin interrupted as he stepped outside. Then he and Cheryl said together, “That’s why it smells like rotten eggs and death!”

                Cheryl’s face could have split in two, her smile was so big, as she high fived Dustin.

                “Exactly!” Cheryl said, almost giddy. “Isn’t swamp life fascinating?”

                “Yeah, the stagnant water is the perfect breeding ground for so many cool things!” Dustin said.

                “Yes! You’re exactly right! There are things living in swamps that are not found anywhere else in the world!” Cheryl exclaimed. Dustin stepped down the gravel decline and stood between Cheryl and Steve.

                “I just came outside to let Steve know that we’re ready to buy our snacks,” Dustin said.

                “Perfect! As soon as we’re done here, we can get on the water,” said Cheryl. “We’ll be taking one of these boats.”

                “Sweet. Come on Steve,” Dustin pulled Steve back to the door.

                “You shitheads are gonna bleed me dry,” Steve said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Everyone was sat down in the boat and Dave was revving the engine. Dustin was stuffing everyone’s snacks into his backpack and El was eating frozen Eggos right from the box. Steve was still standing on the dock.

                Before this, Steve thought nothing of riding along a swamp in a boat. Even the smell wouldn’t be too bad once he got used to it. But now, Steve could feel his palms sweating and his heart racing. He was as frozen as El’s Eggos. He couldn’t help but think, there would only be a thin sheet of metal between them and the water. The boat could tip over so easily. They could get eaten by alligators. He could fall in. One of the _kids could fall inohgod…_

                “Steve!” Max shouted, startling him out of this racing thoughts. “Come on, get in.”  
                Steve could feel the sweat beading on his forehead. His heartbeat wouldn’t slow down.

                “Are you okay?” Will asked.

                “Yeah stop being a pussy!” Rachel shouted.

                “Hey, watch you’re fucking language,” Steve shouted back. The kids continued to yell at him. “Everyone shut up! You guys are freakin’ me out!”

                “Steve, would you like a hand?” Cheryl asked, extending a hand out to him. Steve wiped his palms on his jeans and took her hand, letting her help him into the boat. Once Steve was sat down and the boat was moving, he did not feel any better. He couldn’t tell if it was the rocking, the foul smell, or his still racing thoughts that was making his head spin.

                “Jeez buddy, you okay?” Dustin asked. “You’re looking a little green.”   

                “Steve, do you need a waffle?” El asked, offering Steve a now defrosted, soggy waffle. His stomach lurched.

                “No thank you,” he said, slipping his sunglasses on and leaning back, trying to calm down.

                The boat was moving down the river at a slow pace. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, making the jungle-like surroundings dark and eerie. Cheryl and Dave were spouting off facts about the swamp, Dustin chiming in every now and then. The rest of the kids were barely paying attention, joking and chatting amongst themselves. All of a sudden, the boat lurched as if it hit something under the water, eliciting screams from everyone in the boat.

                “ _Shitfuck!_ ” Steve shouted, gripping the side of the boat with white knuckles. Once the kids stopped screaming, Steve noticed that El was the only one who wasn’t freaking out. In fact, she was wearing a mischievous smile.

                “Eleven! What the hell?!” Dustin yelled.

                “Holy shit we almost died!” Lucas screamed.

                Max rolled her eyes and said, “We did not almost die, drama queens.”

                “Everyone, calm down,” Cheryl said. “This boat is very sturdy and Dave is an expert at driving boats.”

                “You sure have a lot of faith in Dave,” Rachel said.

                “Yeah, he your boyfriend?” Lucas asked.

                Cheryl’s face turned red and she stuttered, “N-no. We just work together.”

                “Riiiight,” Rachel laughed.

                “Leave her alone guys,” Steve said, his heartrate finally returning to a normal speed. He was grateful for the distraction, even if it was scolding the asshole kids. The tour continued along the river in much the same manner; laughing, chatting, and arguing. All the while, Cheryl tried her best to narrate the tour, but even Dustin had stopped listening. Steve only slightly felt bad for her, though he could not care less about the history of this swamp. Just then, the boat lurched again, this time knocking the waffles out of the very surprised Eleven’s hands.

                “Eleven, I swear to god!” Steve shouted.

                “It wasn’t me!” El shouted back as she picked up her waffles and put them back in the box.

                “Whoa! Looks like we ran over something,” Dave said, looking unconcerned. Steve however felt very concerned, at least for his own wellbeing, since his heartrate spiked again and he was feeling lightheaded. “Probably just a log.”

                As Dave said that, a slimy tentacle that looked like a tongue crept up the edge of the boat, right behind him. The children watched with wide eyes.

                “Uh, Dave…” Mike pointed. Cheryl looked and gasped.

                “What?” Dave asked, looking down at his shirt. Before Steve could get his bat out of the backpack, the tongue latched onto Dave’s arm and pulled him off the boat. The kids screamed and watched helplessly from the boat as whatever was under the murky water tore Dave to shreds. Cheryl looked to be in shock. Steve went to the back of the boat and took Dave’s seat, speeding the boat away from the scene.

                “I don’t know what that was…” Cheryl said, her voice shaking.

                “It’s close, the portal is close,” Rachel said. “It must’ve been opened somehow, because that thing must have come from there.”

                “Portal? What portal?” Cheryl asked.

                “There’s a portal in these swamps,” Rachel explained. “We’re going to it to see if we can get in.”

                “No,” Steve said. “No we’re not. If that thing came from this portal, we’re not going in.”

                “We made a deal!” Mike shouted. “You’re either going with us, or you’re staying behind and we’re going by ourselves!”

                “I know what I said but I take it back,” Steve said. “This is dangerous. We’re not doing this.”

                “You can’t take it back!” Mike said.

                “Who all still wants to go?” Steve asked. “Will, don’t feel like you need to go if everyone else is voting. If there’s one vote against this, we’re not going.”

                Everyone in the boat raised their hands except Steve and Cheryl. Steve groaned and rolled his eyes.

                “Of course…”

                “Wait, where are we going?” Cheryl asked.

                “I guess we’re going to the portal,” Steve said. “You are not. I don’t need another person to look after. These shitheads are plenty.”

                “Now hold on,” Cheryl said. “I have to go with you. I’m your tour guide, which means that I’m responsible for everyone’s safety on this tour. If you all are planning on doing something dangerous, I need to at least go with you to make sure you’re all safe.”

                Steve looked at her, shocked. Clearly, no one expected this from their innocent tour guide.

                “We’re getting really close,” Rachel said. “Steve, slow the boat down.”

                Just as Steve began slowing the boat down, a small dock became visible up ahead. Steve slowed down and tried to dock the boat at least close enough to grab. Eventually, after much struggle since no one has ever driven a boat before, they managed to tie up the boat and they all climbed out. Up the dock there was a path made of wooden planks leading into the forest. Right away, Dustin, Lucas and Max ran to the trail.

                “Hey hey hey!! Get back here! What the hell?” Steve scolded as he pulled his bat out and took the lead into the woods. Here the forest was thicker and very little sunlight was coming through. Dustin and Lucas pulled out flashlights to light the way. The trail soon became flat stones in the ground instead of wooden planks. The group came to a clearing in the thick forest and they were met with a huge yard with perfectly manicured grass. At the center of the yard was a big white colonial style house.

                “It’s close, but I don’t see it,” Rachel said.

                “Let’s ask whoever lives here,” Dustin said. “They might know something about it.”

                The gang went to the front door of the house and Cheryl knocked. After a few seconds, the door swung open to reveal a tall man with white hair and a mustache. He was dressed nicely in a gray suit.

                “Why hello there,” he said, looking Cheryl up and down. “What brings you all here to my little corner of the swamps?”

                “We’re wondering where the portal is,” Rachel said.

                “Portal? Well I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “But why don’t you all come inside for a bit. We can talk more over some lemonade.”

                Steve pushed down the bad feeling he was getting and followed the gang into the house.

                “By the way, my name is Colonel Drangston, but you can call me Hank,” he said, winking at Cheryl. She looked uncomfortable. Steve’s stomach turned. Hank led them into the kitchen and gestured to the large dinner table. They all sat down and Hank came back to the table with a pitcher of lemonade and a stack of glasses. “I wasn’t expecting visitors today, especially one’s so lovely,” he smiled at Cheryl, whose face turned red and she looked down at her lap. “But I always treat my guests with the utmost hospitality.”

                Steve watched Cheryl’s face as she tried to hide her disgust.

                “Stop talking to her like that,” Steve said.            

                “What was that?” Hank looked up at him as he began pouring lemonade.

                “I said stop talking to her like that,” said Steve. “Can’t you see you’re making her uncomfortable?”

                Hank set the pitcher down and the smile fell from his face.

                “I don’t think you mean that, boy,” Hank said in a lower voice than before. “Cause if you meant that, I’d have to feed you to the dogs. You don’t wanna be fed to the dogs, do you boy?”

                Everyone at the table went silent. Steve felt confusion and uneasiness seep through his anger. Steve stood up.

                “Let’s go,” he said. Everyone stood up.

                “Now now,” Hank said, holding out a hand. “Let’s talk this through. This is my house which means you all have to go by my rules. This means that I get to say and do whatever I want to this lovely lady here. That also means that people who talk back to me need to get fed to the dogs, so let’s go. Let’s go feed those dogs.”

                Hank lifted his hand and an invisible hand closed around Steve’s throat. He could feel his feet lift off the ground and he barely registered that he was moving to the back door of the house. Through his own strangled noises, he could hear the kids screaming. All of a sudden, Steve was outside moving across the yard towards a shed. Steve fell to the ground and tried to catch his breath. He looked up at Hank, who was standing over him. Behind Hank, the kids and Cheryl ran out of the house after them. Eleven held up a hand and a drop of blood dripped from her nose, but she seemed frustrated when nothing happened.

                Steve pulled the bat out of his backpack, but Hank kicked it out of his hands. It fell onto the grass, out of his reach. The invisible hand closed around his neck again and began dragging Steve across the grass, closer to the shed. Above him, something hit Hank in the head and the man collapsed. Standing over the fallen Hank was Cheryl, holding a big rock. She dropped the rock and fell to her knees beside Steve.

                “Are you okay?” she asked, her fingers fluttering over his neck where dark bruises were already forming.

                “Yeah, I’m fine,” Steve rasped, still catching his breath. The seven kids ran over and gathered around him.

                “I couldn’t do anything,” said El. “It was like he was blocking me. He was way too powerful.”

                “What was he talking about? Are there dogs in that shed?” Mike asked, looking over at the shed. They didn’t hear anything from it; no barking or howling or anything. All the kids stopped talking over each other and looked at the shed.

                “No,” Steve said. “We’re not checking the shed. We’re leaving. This was enough.”

                “Just a peak,” Mike said. “There’s a window over there on the side.”

                “It’s in there,” Rachel said, standing up. “The portal is in the shed.”

                And that was how Steve found himself tying up Hank while trying to explain to Cheryl why the kids were so stupid.

                “This isn’t even a school trip,” said Steve. “Sorry we lied to you. This probably isn’t what you had in mind for your swamp tour.”

                “It’s okay,” Cheryl said. “I’m sad about Dave, but I guess this is pretty interesting. Terrifying, but interesting. Although, no one would ever believe me if I told them.”

                “We’ll keep in touch,” Steve said.

                “Steve! Get over here!” Dustin yelled from the shed. The kids were gathered around the double doors of the shed. Mike was poking at a padlock. When Steve got to the shed, he saw the chain wrapped around the handles of the doors, secured by a padlock.

                “Well, it looks like we can’t get in,” Steve said. “Time to go home.”

                Eleven raised a hand and the padlock crumpled in on itself then fell to the ground, letting the chains fall. Mike took the chains off and flung the doors open. As the doors opened, Steve remembered his bat still laying in the grass. But nothing jumped out at them. The only thing that came out of the shed was a faint blue glow. Steve stepped to the front and saw a pool of water laid into the ground of the shed, which was where the glow was coming from. He stepped up to the edge of it and looked in. The water was dark and murky, but Steve could see dark shadows moving below the surface.

                “Get my bat,” he said, keeping his eyes on the water. One of the kids ran out and came back with his bat. Steve held the bat in front of him. “There’s something in the water.”

                “This is it,” Rachel whispered.

                “Can you see in there?” Steve asked. Rachel closed her eyes and concentrated.

                “It’s…its dark and blurry,” Rachel said. “It’s all under water. There’s big things swimming around in there. We should close it. I think we should close it, this is really scary.”

                El put a hand on Rachel’s shoulder and shook her a little bit. Rachel opened her eyes and wiped her nose.

                “What do we do? How do we close it?” Cheryl asked from the back of the crowd where she was keeping an eye on Hank.

                “We’ll do it,” Rachel said, linking arms with El.

                “Are you sure?” Mike asked El. “This was really hard for you last time. You don’t have to do this.”

                “It will be easier with Rachel,” El said. “I need to close it. Something already got loose in the swamp. It could hurt people.”

                “Hank was going to drop you in there,” Cheryl said. “Which means whatever’s in there is dangerous. It killed Dave.”

                El and Rachel pushed forward and stood at the edge of the water. Arms linked, they both closed their eyes. The wind picked up, blowing leaves around the yard. The glow of the portal grew brighter and began to shrink. Steve could practically feel the power emanating from the two girls.

                All of a sudden, the portal snapped closed and the air became still. El and Rachel collapsed to the ground. The kids ran over and gathered around them. Steve broke through the crowd and gathered El up into his arms. Cheryl did the same with Rachel.

                “To the boat. Now,” said Steve, already walking away. The kids didn’t argue this time.

                About an hour later, the gang found themselves disembarking the boat and heading back to the tour bus, which was parked behind the gas station. Once they got back to the tour office, El and Rachel had woken up, but were still groggy. Steve stayed in the office while the kids piled into the car.

                “Call me, if you need to talk, or if anything else weird happens I guess,” said Steve, writing his number down on a piece of paper.

                “I will. Thank you Steve, for everything,” said Cheryl.

                “What are you thanking me for?” he asked.

                “For standing up for me. And keeping us all safe,” she said.

                “I don’t know how safe I kept everyone, but sure,” said Steve. “I mean, your friend _died._ ”

                “Dave wasn’t my friend, but the way he died…I don’t think I’ll be forgetting that for a very long time,” Cheryl said with a shudder. “I can’t imagine anyone believing me if I told them about all this.”

                “Yeah, that’ll be…Well, that’ll be tough…Look, just call me if you need to talk about all this. I’m sure the kids will be glad to hear from you every now and then too,” said Steve. “Anyway, we should probably head out.”

                “Right, I’ll see you around Steve,” Cheryl said with a wave. Steve waved back as he walked out the door. Once he was in the car, he was surprised to find everyone relatively quiet.

                “What was taking so long?” asked Dustin.

                “Yeah, were you guys making out in there?” asked Max.

                “Buckle up, we’re taking Rachel home and then I’m taking all of you home,” said Steve. “I wanna sleep.”

                “Party pooper,” Max mumbled.

                “I don’t know, I could definitely use a nap or something,” said Will. No one said otherwise and the car ride home was blissfully peaceful for once.


End file.
